Taylor Swift's UOB ticket presale: What more can be done to retain consumers?

Over the last few days, everyone in Singapore has been buzzing about the upcoming Taylor Swift concert where the singer will play not one but a whopping six shows in Singapore's National Stadium.

With tickets set to go sale in a matter of days, Singaporeans have also been racing to apply for UOB debit and credit cards especially after it was revealed that cardholders of the bank will get access to a special pre-sale window and general on-sale reserved ticket allotment. 

When MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out, Jacquelyn Tan, the head, group personal financial services at UOB noted that its preliminary data has shown that card application volumes have surged "very significantly" since last Wednesday as compared to the daily average so far this month.

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"Prior to the announcement, we had anticipated a surge in card applications, and had taken proactive steps to handle the uptick in volume such as increasing the capacity of the relevant business units handling these applications," she added before noting that UOB's staff were working "as fast as they can" to process the applications. 

However, with the surge in applications, it also begs the question of if new applicants will remain customers after the ticket sales are over and how UOB will measure the ROI from its association with Taylor Swift. 

After all, as with many banks, keeping customers spending on their credit cards is a challenge, according to Kevin Kan, the chief experience officer at Break Out Consulting Asia.

"One of the great things about UOB is that they have a wide range of card products to appeal to every consumer segment. The benefits from each of these products will entice spending on the cards.  For example, quarterly airport transfers for the travel product or the most generous cashback in the market for the everyday spenders. Showing and reminding cardholders of these benefits will enable stickiness to their card," he said.

Additionally, other areas that UOB could work on to encourage customers to stick to their UOB cards is to enhance the customer experience with shorter call waiting times and birthday treats, suggested Kan. 

Other exclusive events for cardholders are other ways to keep cardholders spending but there are only so many A-list events that come to Singapore, said Kan. "So specially curated events such as art shows, ballet, movie premieres or sporting events are important to remain relevant to cardholders.  As with all things to do with loyalty, how you make cardholders feel, how you treat them, how your reward them will determine the long-term relationship banks will have with their cardholders and the number of transactions that are put on the card," he noted. 

Will Lee, the managing director of That Marketing Guy agreed by noting that the concert was a good opportunity for UOB to grow its base of younger customers and that this was a good way for them to learn about the demographic and what would benefit and add value to their lives. 

He said:

We can always do more. More social content that engages with Swifties should provide a more vibrant commentary on the ongoing hype.

Measuring ROI

Clearly, a lot of work post-concert is needed from UOB in order to ensure that they don't end up with a large group of consumers dropping their cards after the ticket pre-sale and measuring ROI when it comes to its association with Taylor Swift will be tough. 

Jose Raymond, the director of strategic advisory at PRecious Communications argued that no matter what happens after the Taylor Swift concert, Swifties in Singapore and around the region will always remember that UOB was the bank which allowed them the opportunity to get their hands on tickets through the early bird sales.

However, when it comes to tangible ROI, Lee suggests that UOB would have to measure its direct signups from the concert, how many customers cancelled their cards after purchasing tickets and how many used and continued to use their cards post-concert. 

This though, does not mean that UOB can't do more to improve its ROI based on these measurements. 

"Not to downplay or trivialize these efforts, but UOB got a free pass to acquire more users. And they have to invest more time and money to ensure that these new acquisitions see the value and stay on as UOB customers," said Lee. 

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